Summary: Mr X complained about how the Council dealt with his council tax bills and the enforcement action it took to recover the amounts owed. There was fault by the Council for its poor record keeping. This caused distress and frustration to Mr X. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about how the Council dealt with the council tax bills for his previous accommodation. In particular, Mr X complained the Council:
1. did not make notes of the telephone conversation he had with its staff on 25 February 2022 about a £483.06 council tax bill arrears
2. did not make a transcript of the 25 February 2022 telephone conversation before it removed the recording from its system
3. provided him with conflicting information about the recovery of the £483.06 council tax bill arrears.
2. Mr X said the matter raised his expectations, caused him distress, financial strain and loss and the inconvenience complaining to the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
6. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

7. I have exercised discretion to investigate matters relating to Council Tax Bills for financial years 2020/2021 and 2021/2022. This is because I needed to consider the whole period to carry out a meaningful investigation.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I have discussed the complaint with Mr X and considered the information he provided. I also considered the information the Council provided in response to my enquiries.
9. I sent Mr X and the Council a copy of my draft decision and considered the comments received before reaching a final decision.

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What I found

Law and guidance

10. Council tax is a combination of a tax on the value of a property and a tax on individuals. The owner or occupier pays it.
11. Council tax support is a reduction in the amount of council tax payable based on a resident’s savings, family make up and income. If a resident’s circumstances change, their council tax support may be reduced. If this change is backdated, it will result in an increased council tax bill.
12. Councils issue demand notices annually. Residents are responsible for paying their council tax bills in monthly instalments. Council’s must send the person liable for payment of council tax a reminder and a notice before taking recovery action.
13. Recovery action is through the issue of a summons and getting a liability order through the magistrates' courts. Options include payment orders, attachment of earnings orders, seizure and sale of goods following the issue of a warrant, registered charges on property and, in extreme cases, imprisonment.
14. The Council may ask an enforcement company to attend a person’s property and seize goods to the value of a council tax debt.
15. When the debt is passed to an enforcement company there are two stages:

• Compliance stage: Upon receipt of the instruction from the local authority the enforcement company must send a Notice of Enforcement giving the debtor a minimum of seven clear days to pay before a visit can be made. The debtor can make a payment proposal following the Notice of Enforcement. The enforcement company adds a compliance stage fee of £75 to the debt.
• Enforcement stage: If the debtor does not pay during the compliance stage or they default on a payment arrangement, the enforcement company will pass their account to an individual Enforcement Agent (EA). The EA will visit the debtor’s property for the purpose of taking control of their goods. At the time of the visit, an enforcement fee of £235 is added to the debt.

Key events

16. Prior to June 2021, Mr X asked the Council to set up a payment plan for him to pay his council tax (CT) bill arrears for financial year 2020/2021. The Council set up a monthly payment plan as requested by Mr X which he accepted.
17. In June 2021, Mr X moved out of his previous accommodation and out of the Council area due to a change in his circumstances. Mr X informed the Council about his move.
18. After Mr X’s move, the Council sent Mr X his CT closing balances of £276 for financial year 2020/2021 and £58.87 for financial year 2021/2022.
19. In October 2021, the Council recalculated Mr X’s CT support. The Council then sent Mr X the CT Support notification letter and the CT adjustment notice with a total of £395.56 outstanding CT bill for his previous accommodation. Mr X’s recalculated arrears covered the periods from 1/4/2020 to 31/3/2021 (£292.50) and from 1/4/2021 to 19/6/2021 (£103.06).
20. The Council issued Mr X with reminder notices and summons for his CT arrears. Mr X did not respond or make any representations. An additional cost of £87.50 for the summons and liability order was added to Mr X’s CT arrears. This meant the total amount to be paid by Mr X was £483.06.
21. On 25 February 2022, Mr X contacted the Council to discuss the CT bill arrears it sent to him. Mr X said he explained the reason he moved from his previous accommodation. He said the staff he spoke with advised him the Council would not undertake recovery action for his arrears because of his circumstances. No payment plan was arranged. The telephone conversation was not recorded.
22. In March 2022, the Council’s recovery team wrote to Mr X and asked him to pay his £483.06 CT bill arrears.
23. The Council passed Mr X’s account to the enforcement agents (EA) to collect the arrears. The Council added extra fees of £310 to Mr X’s CT arrears. The extra fees were £75 and £235 which covered the compliance and enforcement stages respectively. This meant the total bill Mr X owed was £793.06.
24. In October 2022, an EA visited Mr X at his new home address and recovered a total of £793.06 (the original CT arrears plus additional statutory charges).
25. Mr X formally complained to the Council about how it had dealt with his CT bill arrears for his previous accommodation. He complained about the large amount of arrears the Council sent to him after it recalculated his CT bills. Mr X questioned why the Council gave him conflicting information about the recovery of his arrears. He said the contact centre team he spoke with in February 2022 told him no recovery action would be taken while another team (recovery team) subsequently asked him to pay his CT bill arrears.
26. In its responses to Mr X’s complaint, the Council said:

• there was no record of the 25 February 2022 telephone conversation he had with the contact centre team. This was because the call was made during its annual billing process when its live systems were down
• the contact centre staff did not make notes of the telephone conversation
• because Mr X’s account was in the recovery process at the time of the telephone call, the staff he spoke with should have given Mr X its recovery team contact details or transferred him to that team to discuss recovery of his CT bill arrears
• it accepted its staff made an error for failing to update Mr X’s CT account record with the details he provided during the telephone conversation and the failure to transfer Mr X to its recovery team
• it apologised to Mr X for its staff errors and confirmed the matter had been addressed with the individual staff
• it issued Mr X with demand notices and statutory documents relating to his CT bill arrears and Mr X did not respond or raise representations
• the CT arrears Mr X paid to the EA was correct and it would not be cancelled
• it partially upheld Mr X’s complaint and as a goodwill gesture, the Council cancelled the summons and court costs and refunded Mr X with £87.50.

27. Mr X further questioned why the Council did not record the February 2022 telephone conversation, why the staff failed to take notes of their conversation and why the Council failed to create a transcript before it deleted the call recording.
28. The Council replied to Mr X, and it reiterated its previous responses to his complaint.
29. Mr X remained dissatisfied with the Council’s responses, and he made a complaint to the Ombudsman. Mr X said he did not respond to the statutory documents the Council sent to him. He said this was because of the advice he was given during the February 2022 telephone call that the Council would take no action to recover his CT arrears. Mr X said he felt the Council should have also cancelled and refunded him with the £310 EA fees due to the wrong advice its contact centre staff gave to him during the February 2022 telephone conversation.

Analysis

30. I cannot come to a view about what was discussed between Mr X and the Council’s contact centre staff during the 25 February 2022 telephone call. This is because there is no evidence of the call recording or evidence of the notes of the telephone conversation. Therefore, I have no means of establishing what was discussed to make a finding about Mr X’s complaint that he was given conflicting messages by the contact centre team and the recovery team.
31. I note the Council’s reasons that the February 2022 telephone conversation was not recorded due to the fact it happened during its annual billing process where its live systems were down. However, I find fault by the Council for its staff failure to keep notes of what was discussed during that telephone conversation with Mr X. This caused distress and frustration to Mr X.
32. I acknowledge Mr X said the contact centre staff raised his expectations when he was told the Council would not take any action to recover his CT arrears. Councils issue CT demand notices annually and residents are responsible for paying their CT bills in monthly instalments. This includes the payment of any arrears accrued. The Council had sent Mr X reminder notices and summons which would have alerted him that the Council was recovering the CT arrears despite the alleged advice from the contact centre staff.
33. Mr X also questioned why the Council did not make a transcript of the 25 February 2022 telephone conversation before it removed the recording from its system. We would not expect councils to transcribe calls as this is a hugely resource intensive task. But as stated above, the Council should have made notes on Mr X’s CT account to show he called, and the details of the conversation held during that call.
34. In its responses to Mr X’s complaint, the Council accepted its contact centre staff failed to take notes of the 25 February 2022 telephone call. It also accepted the same staff failed to transfer Mr X to the appropriate team (recovery team) to have dealt with his CT arrears queries. The Council apologised to Mr X, and it refunded him with the summons and court costs of £87.50 as a goodwill gesture. This is welcome. I have taken the £87.50 refund into account under the ‘agreed action’ section below in line with our guidance on remedies.
35. I note Mr X is of the view the Council should have also refunded him with the £310 EA fees due to the alleged advice he received from the contact centre staff. I cannot say the Council would have written off Mr X’s CT arrears had the contact centre staff transferred him to the recovery team. Therefore, I have no ground to direct the Council to cancel and refund Mr X with the £310 EA fees charged when it recovered his CT arrears.
36. Where there are CT arrears, the Council must follow statutory procedure to recover such arrears with additional fees charged during the recovery process.
37. In this case, the Council issued CT demands to Mr X for financial years 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 for his previous accommodation. It sent Mr X CT Support notification letter when it adjusted his CT bills. The Council also issued Mr X with reminders and notices before taking recovery action. These steps were taken in line with the statutory procedure for recovering CT arrears. Therefore, I find no fault by the Council with how it dealt with Mr X’s CT bill arrears for his previous accommodation and the actions it took to recover the arrears.

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Agreed action

38. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified, the Council has agreed to within one month of the final decision:

• apologise in writing to Mr X to acknowledge the injustice caused to him by the Council’s failings as identified above. The apology should be in accordance with our guidance, Making an effective apology
• make Mr X a symbolic payment of £62.50 in recognition of the distress and frustration caused by the Council’s failings. This remedy has been worked out in line with our guidance on remedies; £150 (symbolic payment for the injustice caused) less £87.50 summons and court costs the Council had refunded Mr X with
• by training or other means remind relevant staff of the importance of making and keeping accurate notes and appropriate record of telephone conversations between them and service users.

39. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

40. I find evidence of some faults by the Council leading to injustice. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman